How many of you have your own fully paid house/apartment?

UneducatedLoser · 2016-01-07T03:01:05+00:00

I do.

BUT let me warn you, it will NOT get better. First you want to own your own house. When you do, you want to own multiple bigger ones. First you want to be a millionaire. When you do become a millionaire, you'll want at least 100 million. It doesn't change.

phathack · 2016-01-07T06:43:36+00:00

I'm a real estate investor that flips and rents homes. I own a surprising number of the homes I rent as well as the one I live in which is just like homes I rent.

cscareerpath · 2016-01-07T09:27:55+00:00

I'm 26 and yes, I have a pretty big house that's completely paid off to my name. And yes, I paid it off myself.

Five_Decades · 2016-01-07T02:14:22+00:00

I could afford to buy my own place, but when I crunch the numbers I would only save about $200/month over renting and I would have to give up a lot of autonomy to do it.

2016-01-07T04:26:49+00:00

I do.. Saved up and bought a small place with cash a few years ago.. It's nice not having a monthly payment other then utilities

chillmonkey88 · 2016-01-07T04:58:03+00:00

Just The Opposite... I Rent Because Property Value Is Being Inflated Where I Live Because Since 2008 Housing Market Crash A Select Few Own Most Of Property Where I Live And Rent To Lower Income. So I rent a nice apartment for my son in a suburban area... I don't like being so close to a mall but it's the 2nd nicest part of grand rapids (grandville if your wondering) and I am able to ride my bike a lot to work or through a big trail that basically can take me anywhere to the west side.

Just an example of the housing situation, my friend from high schools mother has always been a realtor with not much success until the market picked back up. Since the crash she's going to be able to retire easily because her and my friends dad bought so many homes that they sell or rent to all the kids that went to high school with all of us.

Edit2: on this point I'll clarify my friends parents are in there early 50's and sold somewhere between 60-80 houses among the friends of there oldest son(33 yo), my friend (29 yo son) and their daughter's (26 yo) friends

Chances are if i want to live in grand rapids I'll have to buy from my friends mom. But in relating to your situation if i were in your shoes... I couldn't imagine keeping up on a house right now, and that's the question you need to ask yourself before making the investment. I get you want freedom but think of upkeep and taxes with all the extra costs of owning before you buy.

So before you buy, be ready, analyze your life in terms of financial, time, what you got going on and can you keep up with a house, how frugal you currently are (do you need more space or want it?) Also a must must must in the words of successful home owners that I know... START AND MAINTAIN AN EMERGENCY FUND.

As a single dad, that works a ton (55 hr weeks love my job btw, I'm a cnc machinist so don't think of it as wage slave, metallurgy and making all sorts of cool shit on a mill or lathe is dope), goes to school, and I take online courses for code and tooling for machining. With all that I just said, I could never own a house at this time. I'm doing too much to keep up with one.

Sorry for the long speech but I kinda hope this sub gets more submissions like this about single dude life shit rather than the current "rage stage" submissions.

Edit: my phone capitalized every word in my first paragraph. Also don't what I said at the end to heart... it's my personal view of this sub sometimes.

oldredder · 2016-01-07T09:02:13+00:00

I have an all-inclusive apartment, dishes, furniture, power, internet, tv, no room-mates. Not a bad deal.

I expect a rapidly shifting economy that would require me to move frequently to get maximum income & at some point to emigrate from my country completely. To me the sunk cost of a home in a rapidly changing economy is just a way to lose a huge chunk of work-money forever.

I'm also getting a bit fed up of overzealous owners buzzing in my ear, behaving like they are doing some favor by letting me live there.

Even when you're a home-owner other neighbours will act the same.

2016-01-07T19:19:17+00:00

I bought and paid off my town-house in 5 years. That was 10 years ago... so I have just been plugging money away into various investments... physical and financial since.

I could easily afford a house 10 times the size of my current one... but I don't need it. Live on my own after all.

So now I spend my money on Scotch single-malt whisky, quality coffee and holidays.

thrownaway_MGTOW · 2016-01-08T01:34:16+00:00

I've written on this extensively in the past, even tried starting a thread on it a year or more back.

Anyway... here's a couple of "ProTips":

1. Look for an exurban area/region that is fairly heavy with "vacation" homes

Virtually EVERY state has at least one, and probably several of these, it's the "touristy" part of the state).

Even better if there are "high priced" mansions on lakefront properties -- better still where the owners of those vacation properties are not even residents of your state.

Why? Because, they pay LOTS of property taxes, but since they are not "residents"...

First of all they are not using or burdening the majority of the local government systems & services (i.e. they help PAY for the local schools, but their kids do not attend); and...
Secondly they also can't VOTE in local (government) elections, meaning they have little to no influence on either referendums OR who sits on the county board, etc.;

Oh they may TRY, by claiming "look here we pay 10x the property taxes of Joe Blow over there" ... but really the response is: "So what?" I mean what are they going to do? Deprive the local economy by NEVER coming up to their vacation home? Or by NOT paying their property taxes? (That's a quick path to losing their mansion for pennies at a tax sale.) What else can they threaten? To sell their property at below market value in order to "trash" the local market? Riiiight, like that would make any sense -- protest a tax increase of $1,000 and do it by losing $100,000, like THAT'S gonna happen.

2. Look for houses that are NEAR but not ON local lakes or waterways

That is, a property that does NOT have "lakefront" footage, but still has "lake rights", etc.

Why? Because the prices of most waterfront properties are usually several times higher (to say nothing of the taxes as a result), and often for lower "quality" land, that is to say heavily restricted in terms of any construction or even landscaping (you'll probably need to get a "permit" just to cut down a tree, and a "variance" to do anything within 100+ yards of the shoreline); also the land will often be either ridiculously sloping (and possibly even being steadily eroded), or else contain a large "floodplain" area, etc.

As to why you want to be near/have rights to some waterfront (be it lake or river) -- well there are a lot of reasons, not the least of which is "fun" potential: canoeing & kayaking, other boating, and of course fishing, etc. Plus, this kind of goes along with looking for vacation/tourist related areas (most are on or near water).

3. Plan on buying a SMALLER house (say a 1 or 2 BR rather than a 3 BR).

BUT a caveat to that, is that you should still LOOK at houses that are "billed" as 3+ Bedroom (and the giveaway is that they'll also be 1 or 1-1/2 Bath)

Why? Well a lot of realtors (not necessarily the brightest folk mind you) know that the BIGGEST market segment is people who either HAVE kids or else WANT kids, and invariably those people want (and only want to "look at") "3+ bedroom" houses. What that means is that all too often the Realtor will try to "bend" the definition of a "bedroom" in order to pitch a 2 bedroom house (and in some cases even houses that are technically a 1 bedroom) as a 3 bedroom -- taking something like a partially finished attic, or an open loft area, or a finished basement area and calling it a "bedroom" (because from a desperation perspective it COULD be used as one, I mean plop a mattress down and someone COULD technically sleep in a closet, right?)... Why do they do that? In order to get more "prospects" to LOOK at the house in person.

Problem is that backfires. Oh they'll probably get lots of "showings" (especially since the price will be relatively low compared to other "real" 3 BR/2 BA houses), but no one makes an offer, because parents are NOT going to want little "Johnny" living in some attic/loft (especially if it doesn't have a door or closet space); and that little back 8 x 10 room might be able to contain a twin bed, but precious little "Janey" isn't going to be happy in there; plus the whole house will just seem "too small for a family." (Most couples have come to expect some private "en suite" bathroom for themselves if not one for each of the kids, and ideally they want BIG bedrooms and even space between them {i.e. bedrooms at opposite sides/ends of the house, etc -- so no sound will travel from one to t'other}.)

End result is that this house "sits" on the market, often with the asking price being dropped two or even three times during the typical 6 month long realtor-listing-contract. (Ideally you want to swoop in at/near the END of that contract -- the realtor has put in a shitload of effort on all those "showing" etc, and unless they actually MAKE the sale, they get paid buppkiss for all that "work" -- end result is that they'll do everything they can to "seal the deal", including cutting their own commission {some is better than none, right?} Especially if there is not "buyers realtor" that they have to split it with... instead you can get the "split" = to probably 3% of the purchase price.) And of course the sellers will probably be DESPERATE to sell by that point in time... otherwise what are they going to do, take it off the market and try the whole thing ALL OVER AGAIN next year, when the prices & prospects might be even worse??? Fuck it, better to take the lowball offer from this guy (you) and move on with their life.

4. SIMPLE ROOF LINE -- no "ells" -- no "dormers" -- no "skylights" -- and no other "funky/stupid shit".

This will probably come with the territory of most small houses of the 2BR 1BA variety; but it deserves mentioning and taking into account.

Why? Because -- especially with recently built (i.e. 1990's+) houses -- there is a tendency to go nuts with funky roof designs, and in most cases the construction has been with relatively "shoddy" materials that deteriorate (lose structural strength, even literally "crumble") if and when they become wet or even experience high-damp "humid" conditions. And by definition EVERY "break" or "joint" in the roofing, every valley or place where a roof abuts a wall... is a MAJOR potential "leak" area: the more complex the roof, the more likely leaks and major repair costs in the future. (Say that you start seeing mold/mildew on the ceiling somewhere in THIS house, now imagine how difficult it's going to be to determine if the cause is a leak somewhere -- God only know where -- in THAT roof.)

By contrast, a simple "straight" (or "gable") roof line not only has NO valleys, and also no "funky" shit going on with the criss-crossing rafters and contorted trusses underneath; and if there is a "leak" somewhere, figuring out the location is easy-peazy. Plus simple roofs have other benefits... re-roofing (probably within 5 to 10 to 15 years) will be a LOT cheaper and the "skill" of the roofer less of a concern (in fact you may be able to do just a cheap DIY shingle-over); also simple roofs tend to have better energy performance (easier to insulate), and besides, you're not some brainless "chick" who is trying to delude herself (or "impress others") that she lives in some faux "castle" or "manor house"). Cf: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/martin-s-ten-rules-roof-design for more on why the ROOF is probably THE single most important aspect of a well-designed, well-built house.

5. Don't forget you can CHANGE things... That's the primary beauty/benefit of owning a house.

You can repaint the place; you can probably add a porch or deck... maybe even add on an extra room (even an "ell" -- they make sense with ADDITIONS they are idiotic with a "new-built" house). Not to mention you can add (or cut down) trees, build (or remove) fences... depending on the place you may have certain restrictions or permits, but if you get out into the "boondocks" (and avoid waterfront "enviro" bullshit) this is less likely to be a problem.

Get an acre or so (or more) of land, and you can almost definitely put up or add onto a garage and/or workshop... pave the driveway or whatever you want. Have enough room (and flat land) and you can put in a "sport court" (basketball, tennis, whatever, various sizes) -- heck I even know one guy (freak about golfing) who put in an 20 ft oval artificial turf "putting green/patio" (said he got the turf at a bargain price & the whole thing only cost him around $300).

Continued in Part II below (as a reply to this)...

the-tominator · 2016-01-07T02:11:19+00:00

[deleted]

MGTOW_Vancouver · 2016-01-07T02:50:22+00:00

Renting and day trading my expendable income right now, I make enough to pay a mortgage but it's more likely a hindrance than a benefit. Prices in my city are also pretty insane right now and paying 8% of my income in rent is the shit.

Antenna-Radiation · 2016-01-07T08:14:55+00:00

I own a small duplex outright, and recently paid off an 8-acre raw piece of highway frontage. I lived in one side of the duplex, but it is finally fixed up, and now time to rent both sides. So I will use the rental income to help pay down the house I just bought. As funds grow, I will build small rentals on the land, and put that money toward something else that will make it grow.
A home is a lot of work, but it's way more rewarding to have than an apartment. If you want to tinker, drill, cut, build, or just plain make noise, a house is the way to go. You have to live somewhere, right? But if you like to be free to move about the country every other year, find short term leases and go have fun.

2016-01-07T12:42:25+00:00

[deleted]

How many of you have your own fully paid house/apartment?

Comments

1. Look for an exurban area/region that is fairly heavy with "vacation" homes

Virtually EVERY state has at least one, and probably several of these, it's the "touristy" part of the state).

2. Look for houses that are NEAR but not ON local lakes or waterways

That is, a property that does NOT have "lakefront" footage, but still has "lake rights", etc.

3. Plan on buying a SMALLER house (say a 1 or 2 BR rather than a 3 BR).

BUT a caveat to that, is that you should still LOOK at houses that are "billed" as 3+ Bedroom (and the giveaway is that they'll also be 1 or 1-1/2 Bath)

4. SIMPLE ROOF LINE -- no "ells" -- no "dormers" -- no "skylights" -- and no other "funky/stupid shit".

This will probably come with the territory of most small houses of the 2BR 1BA variety; but it deserves mentioning and taking into account.

5. Don't forget you can CHANGE things... That's the primary beauty/benefit of owning a house.

Part II

6. Ignore the fucking "curb appeal" -- go for "views OUT" from the property, what YOU will see, not what others driving by will see.

7. Remember the NEIGHBORS are important -- or rather ideally the NON-Neighbors.

Title	How many of you have your own fully paid house/apartment?
Author	[deleted]
Upvotes	9
Comments	29
Date	January 7, 2016 1:26 AM UTC (10 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MGTOW
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MGTOW/comments/3zt1z9/how_many_of_you_have_your_own_fully_paid/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MGTOW/how-many-of-you-have-your-own-fully-paid.639203 https://theredarchive.com/post/639203